Ursa Hollows Preview

Raise and breed bears in this pet sim. Watch your hands.

Oh, so you have a beloved dog that you’ve trained to sit up and play dead? Big deal. If you want to flaunt your powers of domestication, why not attempt to train something bigger, meaner, andâ€¦pointier? Why not try your luck at housetraining a bear? In fact, why not assert your dominance over a whole passel of bears? You can with Ursa Hollows, the upcoming simulation game for iOS by Carvine Software.

You take charge of the titular Ursa Hollows, which you must populate with as many species of bears as you can wrangle. You can expect to see some familiar fuzzy faces, including the brown bear, the polar bear, the grizzly bear, and the koala bear (which is technically not a bear, but don’t offer a contradictory word to a koala bear. It’ll take your face off).

As you keep playing, a few uncommon bear species might decide to move in. Keep your eyes open for the Spirit Bear, the Gummy Bear, and even a living Teddy Bear! Incidentally, you garner new bears by breeding the residents of Ursa Hollows, so what can possibly come of a Teddy Bear/Gummy Bear combination except for a sticky, fluff-covered mess? We’ll find out.

As you feed and level up your bears, they earn more coins. Said coins can be pumped back into the Ursa Hollows economy by way of upgrades and improvements. Bears can even compete with each other for experience points and other rewards. Don’t expect to be able to stuff them into little tutus like they do in the circusâ€”but give it a try, anyway. See what happens!

Ursa Hollows hits the App Store soon. Throw a few hundred steaks on the grill: you’re about to have some very hungry guests.